Oscar Pistorius appeared in a South African court this morning for his bail hearing, and journalists and the public got a preview of both the prosecution’s case thus far, and of Oscar’s defense. And now we know where the whole “maybe Oscar thought Reeva was an intruder and that’s why he shot her multiple times through a locked bathroom door” defense came from – it came from Oscar himself. That was the explanation he gave to the first police officers on the scene. And it seems like the judge/magistrate is agreeing with the prosecution thus far too – that there’s enough evidence to hold on to the charge of “premeditated murder”. While cameras weren’t allowed to film the hearing, reporters were allowed inside the courthouse, so we know exactly what happened.

Oscar Pistorius told a packed courtroom Tuesday that he shot his girlfriend to death by mistake, thinking she was a robber. The prosecutor called it premeditated murder. The double amputee said in an affidavit read by his lawyer at his bail hearing that he felt vulnerable because he did not have on his prosthetic legs when he pumped bullets into the locked bathroom door. Then, Pistorius said in the sworn statement, he realized that model Reeva Steenkamp was not in his bed.

“It filled me with horror and fear,” he said.

He put on his prosthetic legs, tried to kick down the door, then bashed it in with a cricket bat to find Steenkamp, 29, shot inside. He said he ran downstairs with her, but “She died in my arms.”

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel on Tuesday charged the 26-year-old athlete and Olympian with premeditated murder, alleging he took the time to put on his legs and walk some seven yards from the bed to the bathroom door before opening fire. If convicted of the crime, correspondent Emma Hurd reports for CBS News that Pistorius could spend the rest of his life in prison.

The Valentine’s Day shooting death has shocked South Africans and many around the world who idolized Pistorius for overcoming adversity to become a sports champion, competing in the London Olympics last year in track besides being a Paralympian. Steenkamp was a model and law graduate who made her debut on a South African reality TV program that was broadcast on Saturday, two days after her death.

The magistrate ruled that Pistorius faces the harshest bail requirements available in South African law. Nel told the court that Pistorius fired into the door of a small bathroom where Steenkamp was cowering after a shouting match. He fired four times and three bullets hit Steenkamp, the prosecutor said.

“She couldn’t go anywhere. You can run nowhere,” prosecutor Nel argued. “It must have been horrific.”

Pistorius sobbed softly as his lawyer, Barry Roux, insisted the shooting was an accident and that there was no evidence to substantiate a murder charge.

“Was it to kill her, or was it to get her out?” he asked about the broken-down door. “We submit it is not even murder. There is no concession this is a murder.”

He said the state had provided no evidence that the couple quarreled nor offered a motive.

Nel rebutted: “The motive is `I want to kill.”‘

As details emerged at the dramatic court hearing in the capital, Steenkamp’s body was being cremated Tuesday at a memorial service in the south-coast port city of Port Elizabeth. The family said members had arrived from around the world. Six pallbearers carried her coffin, draped with a white cloth and covered in white flowers, into the church for the private service.

The magistrate said that he would consider downgrading the “premeditated murder” charge at a later date if the evidence warranted it. As for the question of motive… I’m going to quote/paraphrase from the great Brenda Leigh Johnson – “Sometimes we don’t know WHY people do what they do but only HOW they do it, and that’s enough. Motive isn’t what gets us a conviction.” Will this case come down to when Oscar put on his prosthetic legs and whether the order of events signifies premeditation? That’s a problem though – because juries love motives. It’s human nature. We like to know WHY people do horrible things. And that’s where Oscar’s history comes in. Will the prosecution be able to prove a history of domestic violence? One of Oscar’s ex-girlfriends seems willing to talk, so we’ll see.

There are so many little facts that taken alone may say: he was in a shock, didn’t think clearly.
But ALL at once- I don’t think so.

Can you imagine disabled man to leave bed (no check whether alone there or not?!), start crawling/ walking? to bathroom and start shooting without immedeate danger for himself with the handicap of not having his prostate legs on? And the fact he didn’t see WHO was he shooting AT?!

I completely agree. There is very little facts and that he shot without seeing who it was. I think this case is sounding more of a manslaughter case than a premeditated murder case. As he tells the story, it’s seems like he used very poor judgement. In fact, people make stupid, irrational, no common sense decisions everyday. Crazy, but his story might be believable. It should be interesting how the evidence comes into play.

I don’t buy the defense either. I had heard the cricket bat story, too. It will be interesting to find out about where the bat comes into play and if the poor woman indeed had her head smashed in on top of the gunshot wounds. So his girlfriend spent the night in his bed, she gets up to pee and he shoots her three freaking times thru the door?!? That makes no sense. It makes about as much sense as Jody Arias stabbing Travis Alexander 29 times (many times in the back!), sliced his throat ear to ear down to the spinal cord and then shot him in the face….in self defense. Is the world crazy??? These defenses should be no brainers. But then I remember Casey Anthony.

Here is a link to what TMZ has posted, showing how the “bathroom” is laid out. It looks like the bedroom merges into a dressing-room type area that has closets and a bathtub. Then there is the little room with just a toilet and the sink. (Note, I don’t know where they got these. It says “according to the South African press reports”)

I have heard so many things about her physical state (she was first shot in the hip in the bedroom, she was hit in the head with a baseball bat in bedroom before she ran to the bathroom, etc.) I was hoping these diagrams could clarify, but they didn’t really.

I just looked at the diagram, and his story makes no sense AT ALL. I mean, if he was concerned about an intruder, why didn’t he immediately put his legs on? And the bathroom is literally just a toilet and tub–makes no sense that a robber would even go in there in the first place, let alone lock themselves in! When he awoke and Reeva wasn’t next to him, wouldn’t he have immediately assumed she was the one in the bathroom? If he wants to be seen as “innocent,” his story is pure ass.

His story makes no sense. They read his affidavit in court saying that he and his girlfriend had gone to bed TOGETHER. So he well knew she was there. Then he woke up to close a sliding door, heard someone in the bathroom, didn’t switch the light on, started shouting and shooting cause he thought it was a burglar and then told his girlfriend who he thought was in bed to call the police. When he realized she wasn’t there he put 2 and 2 together and freaked out, took the cricket back to knock down the bathroom door etc… Utter rubbish. Either he is the most paranoid person on earth coupled with an idiot and suffers some kind of mental illness or he’s just a liar because who would react like that? I get up to close a door, when I hear someone in the bathroom my thought isn’t: oh my girlfriend must have gotten up, he doesn’t call out “hey are you in bed” or JUST switch on the light! No he goes on a rampage. Nonsense. Guy’s lying.

Totally agree… complete BS. He knows his girlfriend is in the house with him, and hears a noise or something in the bathroom. Wouldn’t the logical thought process lead him to believe his girlfriend got up and is in the bathroom? Who in their right mind open fires into a bathroom door, assuming they are shooting a burglar, without first knowing where their loved ones are in the house????

Playing the devil’s advocate, even if was really confused…he still irresponsibly killed an innocent person. It is like those people who drive drunk and end up killing a family. Even if he didn’t INTEND to kill someone, his own foolishness and irresponsibility with a lethal weapon resulted in death and he should be held accountable.

Why would a burglar be in his bathroom? Wouldn’t the burglar be in the living room stealing the TV? If I were a burglar, I’d be as far away from the bedrooms as possible, if I knew people were home sleeping.

I recently woke up in the middle of the night and actually thought i was locked up in a dark room. I was so convinced of it that I tried for several minutes to get out of my bedroom until I realized where I was.

There are even people who sleepwalk and kill people…there’s a case of a guy who got in his car, drove to his parents in law and killed them – and he wasn’t convicted because he sleepwalked.

This is obviously not the case here and if he’s guilty he must be punished, but what I want to say is that you can be pretty confused when you wake up in the middle of the night. Plus it’s said he took steroids, which can lead to aggressive behavior.

I just saw a documentary about antidepressants which led people to either kill themselves or their family. It was tragic. Most of them were normal people.

But, if you’re a person that this happens to, do you keep a loaded gun near your bed? I too have a long history of sleep walking, talking to people while asleep and waking up completely confused. Thus, I don’t sleep with a loaded gun under my pillow (sure, it’s not the only reason I don’t, but it’s one of the best).

Ha! A similar thing happened to me when I woke up to go to the bathroom in a strange room. It was also very dark. In my sleepy stupor I thought I was in my room at home and somehow wound up perched on a windowsill when I finally came to my senses and realized where I was.

Also, a car once ran into my house and I slept through it.

Needless to say, I am non-functional in the mornings without my coffee.

I would hope that anyone who sleepwalks or experiences erratic feelings because of antidepressants or other reasons, or whose emotions just run high sometimes, would be smart enough NOT to have guns in the house. If concerned about personal protection from robbers, maybe have mace or something that won’t KILL the person.

You know what? That sound like an Ambien/Lunesta/Anti-depressant combo gone horribly wrong. That’s why I’m terrified of meds like that. Lord knows what could go wrong when you’re drugged out of your mind.

But back to Pistorius, reading through older comments (before the murder) on blogs and such from people who grew up with him, Pistorius has a history of domestic abuse/violence. Don’t doubt this was a domestic issue. I just feel bad for Reeva who seemed so excited for Valentine’s Day (according to her last tweets) and it turned out to be the day she died.

Fact is, even if he took the time to put on his prosthetic legs before getting up… in the time it took to do that, if the “intruder” didn’t come out of the bathroom, and Pistorius was armed, why did he then feel the need to shoot three or more times through the door?

I could *maybe* see reducing the charge from “premeditated murder” to “murder”, but I don’t really feel that it warrants less of a punishment.

Of course he is going to use his disability to get sympathy. It works every time. Poor me I had no legs so I felt vulnerable and had to come out shooting like a maniac. Shooting an unarmed woman in cold blood.

Who gets up to go to the bathroom and locks the door behind them in the middle of the night. She locked the door because she was afraid for her life. Too many odd things for this to be what he is preaching.

That is actually one of my biggest questions here: If she was just peeing, why locking the door in the middle of the night in a house where only she and her boyfriend are? And if she was actually hiding from him – why was she sitting on the toilet? Wouldn’t you stay near the door or – knowing he has a gun and is very aggressive – staying afar of the door, maybe hiding in a corner?

With you on the rage. I had to stop take a few deep breaths and get a drink of water in order to calm down. I don’t buy his defense at all. This POS shoots and kills his girlfriend and his defense team wants people to feel sorry for HIM?!

Why did the bat have blood all over it if he used it to bash the door? Poor girl how scared she must have been in that bathroom. I hope the whole “I don’t have legs so I’m not responsible ” thing doesn’t get him off .

Like I said yesterday, accident my ass. Who wakes up and immediately grabs a gun and starts shooting at a bathroom door? Doesn’t make any sense.

And he’s claiming he didn’t put on his legs until after the shooting? Did he levitate to the bathroom door to shoot her? I’m sure the prosecution will be able to prove via the angles of the shots that he’s lying about that.

What’s his motive? He’s a domestic abuser who finally blew his top and killed his girlfriend. It happens all the time.

I think it is another case of “roid rage”. Lets pretend we believe his story about an intruder. Assuming the first shot didn’t kill her, wouldn’t her screaming/cries at being shot at, clue him in that it was her, and not an intruder? There is no scenario I can conceive of where I can buy any part of his story.

@Erandyn — Yes. Semi-automatics are technically meant for rapid-fire. Depending on the trigger pull/recoil a semi-automatic mag can be emptied in a few seconds. Think one bullet per trigger pull unlike automatic weapons that discharge bullets as long as the trigger is held/pulled.

From what I understand, the big argument here is that premeditation does not necessarily mean planning. I think the fact that (according to the reports, which so far have been correct) there was one shot in the bedroom before she locked herself in the bathroom and then he still shot her again is how they can argue premeditation. The door actually presented a physical barrier allowing him to stop and consider his actions, yet he shot her three times through it anyway. It was no longer a spur of the moment thing.

Also if he shouted at the “intruder” to get out, as per his version of events, would she not have said ‘it’s me!’ at this point? I’m guessing he’s put the shouting part in there to try and provide an explanation for what the neighbours heard.

Never thought I’d say I’m glad there’s no jury, but I really am in this case.

Really, and the bat became covered in blood from what then? The door? And her skull just happened to be crushed as well? How can he even still be claiming the intruder story when neighbors called police due to loud arguing hours before the gun shots were heard?

One of his exs is about to come forward with her own damning testimony about how he treated her. Illegal steroids were also found in his home, and an overnight bag of Reeva’s was also discovered. His story makes no sense. So you think someone might be in your bathroom and just start shooting? No warning of ‘come out I have a gun’? Sorry, but he is guilty guilty guilty in my eyes.

He killed her, and I don’t buy the “mistake story”. I mean you can shoot one by accident,but for Godsake FOUR times through a door?? Is that possible??
I feel bad for that poor girl, I can’t even imagine how terrifying must have been: trapped and shooted like that.
I feel bad for all the disabled children who thought he was an hero. But for him? NO. Even if you’re mad at someone you don’t shoot “only to scare” or get someone out of a bathroom. Sorry I don’t buy it.

Why would an intruder lock himself in the bathroom? If said intruder is locked in, why didn’t Oscar call the police instead of starting to shoot? Why did Oscar have to fire four shots through the door? If he was trying to scare the “intruder,” wouldn’t one shot have been enough? He said he realized later that Reeva wasn’t in bed. If he knew for a fact that she was in the house, wouldn’t it have been wise to yell through the door “are you in there Reeva,” before he started shooting? I think he knew she was in there, and it was roid rage.

There is no doubt in my mind that the was an act of domestic violence and rage. A lot of these athletes always get a free pass for their bad behaviour. They’re looked at as a god, and can do no wrong. He killed his girlfriend, not with one shot, but four. Overkill. He’s cute, so people want to believe he isn’t capable of any sort of brutality. But he is, lock him up for good.

I’m so confused by this case. What happened to the bat covered in blood? CNN Newsroom was saying yesterday that he’s going to say he wasn’t doing it to kill, but instead because he was tormented as a child and in boarding school his legs were often hidden from him etc so he’ll probably plead not guilty because ‘poor old me.’ Such a sad story and I doubt we’ll ever know the whole truth.

The prosecution have not yet mentioned a bat, but I don’t think that’s because it does not exist. I think they are trying not to lay all their cards on the table and were only addressing the key points to show premeditation. Another reason they haven’t mentioned it is perhaps they have not yet established whose blood is on it etc. There was definitely a bat involved though because Oscar himself said in his statement he broke down the door with a bat to “help” her.

Let me make sure of something; Is he saying that he didn’t have his legs on when he shot her? And that after the shooting he put them on to carry her down the stairs? Is he saying that he felt insecure without his legs, and that he shot the “intruder” through the bathroom door? If that is true, simple forensic science can prove the where the bullets went in. If he didn’t have his legs on, wouldn’t the bullets have gone through much lower than her head? If this is true, his weak defense becomes obsolete.

@fabgrrl – I made my long comment before reading yours suggesting that she might have fallen in the bathroom. You would think that she would have after the first shot, but he wouldn’t know that if he is shooting from the outside and he doens’t have on his legs he would likely be aiming a bit higher so your point is very interesting and would show even more proof if his story is true. I so want to believe him but it just isn’t making sense but again without all the evidence none of us have enough to go on.

Most amputees are able to ambulate without the use of their protheses or wheelchairs. He has incredible upper body strength. My guess is that he uses his knees/arms to get around when not wearing his legs.

I was waiting for someone to mention this. I agree forensics should be able to prove or disprove his story. The trajectory would be different for someone who is shooting from a few feet off the floor vs someone shooting much higher. I guess I am someone who wants to believe him but am skeptical, I will say that him thinking she was lying in bed is believable to me. I can’t tell you how many times I have thought my husband was lying right there beside me and he wasn’t or thought he was on the couch and walked right up to it and still couldn’t tell. However, that being said, if you own a gun and you have people in your home you should never make any assumptions about there wherabouts without verbal and/or physical confirmation. You can never take a chance on accidently harming a loved one or anyone visitng your home because you are bloodthirsty and trigger happy, which I gather he is both. I don’t know what is true and isn’t true in this case. I mean was her skull crushed or not? Whose blood was on the bad? Sounds like the prosecutors are also putting out misleading info. It also isn’t unbeleivable to think that her blood could be on the bat if he used it to break down the door. I am not defending him just trying to be objective. It doese appear that he is guilty but I want to wait to hear more witness statements and more evidence before I can really decide whether he is guilty or not.

What are steroids doing in his home? Isn’t he being drug tested constantly? I am so disappointed to think that he cheated in the Olympics. I guess for some reason you expect someone who has overcome some seemly insurmountable physical odds to be able to compete at such a high level would have some integrity. I think someone was correct when they said you should never expect a sports star to be a hero. They are not role models.

Exactly what I was thinking. I think the forensics will explain a lot, even if Oscar never breaks from his story and we never learn the ‘why’. I can only hope that the SA police have their facts straight…

I need more details! So he thought it was an intruder, went back to get his legs and perhaps saw his girlfriend wasn’t in bed. Gets a bat to knock down door. Why was the door locked? Who locks a door just to go to the bathroom when you’re in a familiar setting? Did his girlfriend have to lock herself in there to get away from him??

This! This is what makes me think it was murder most of all. Who locks the bathroom in a familiar setting? Even if you were doing something gross that you don’t want someone walking in on, you rarely lock the door–esp at that time of night/early morning.

Bathroom door locker here too! I think I started locking my bathroom door when my kids were young. Of course I was trying to teach them to knock as well… but little kids tend to barge in the bathroom when they are on the hunt for mom. One track mind (must.find.mom.) doesn’t allow much thought of door knocking… LOL

Once you start locking it, whether for privacy or just a minute of sanity (yes, I’ve known other moms who hide out in the bathroom now and then for a few moments of peace! hehe), it does become a habbit.

TMZ has a picture showing how the bathroom is laid out. The toilet is right there in line with the door. There was literally nowhere for her to go except for the toilet. It must have been like shooting fish in a barrel. Poor Reeva. Oscars only thoughts were about himself. He called a buddy to discuss him killing her instead of 911. Who the hell does that? A person who is trying to cobble together a story on the fly before authorities arrive. Oscar apparently had a night stand full of boxed drugs. Look for the ‘roid rage/sleeping pills/alcohol defense next.

I guess I’m weird then. I grew up with many siblings too and shared a bathroom for most of my life. I lock the door every day to the single shared bathroom at work but I still don’t lock the door now in my own place or at my boyfriend’s apt. I didn’t actually think of it being habit for some people but at least that’s a reasonable explanation for it.

@anotherrandom… As I posted above, I usually lock the door out of habbit as well. Honestly though, I think the more reasonable explanation for her locking the door was fear. She probably ran to the bathroom to hide from him,

I agree. In my view that alone is the damning or incriminating detail. You’re in bed with your significant other, you hear a noise, wake up, the first thing or the instinctual thing is to check on your significant other in the bed next to you.
That wasn’t mentioned in the statement that was updated/quoted via the Guardian live coverage.
Maybe it was in the statement the judge and lawyers have, we won’t know until the trial, but if not, then I’d imagine the prosecution hovering around this detail.

Exactly. And if he wasn’t initially wearing his legs and thought there was an intruder, why wouldn’t he wake Reeva up and have her take the gun to the bathroom door.
I don’t know how they expect this story to fly.

Agree as well… and if his story had any truth at all to it, there are two versions in my mind, neither of which make ANY sense.
First, if he woke up and heard a noise in the bathroom, why does his mind automatically rush to ‘intruder’?? Wouldn’t most people first assume their partner got up to use the restroom… and lead to the next logical step of checking to see if they are still in the bed?
Second scenario… for whatever reason, he is panicked and lacks the common sense to consider that it might be his girlfriend in the bathroom. He (again, for whatever reason) jumps to the conclusion that there is an intruder. Wouldn’t he be concerned for his girlfriend… look for her in bed to be sure she is safe?? If she is there, he would want to wake her, tell her to call the police… or tell her to hide… or SOMETHING?

In either case, it would seem logical that he looks for his girlfriend before he does anything else to A) make sure she is not the one in the bathroom and/or B) make sure she is safe and warn her that someone is in the house. Instead, he goes to the bathroom door and starts shooting without warning, and THEN notices his girlfriend is not in bed? This story is just not the least bit believable. Sure, a noise in the night can freak you out. But if you have someone staying in the house with you… a spouse, girlfriend, children, etc., it is just completely illogical to start firing a weapon through a locked door, when you have no idea who is behind the door AND you have not located your loved ones. Just…. NO.

Yeah, home invaders usually go into bathrooms, and lock the door behind them, when breaking in. Who wants silly things like high-end electronics, or car keys, or designer clothes, or safe contents? No one. Not when you can steal valuable half empty shampoo bottles and turn the toilet paper the wrong direction!

I read that supposedly he was worried that an intruder had broken into his house through the bathroom window…because unlike the rest of the windows in the house the bathroom one didn’t have burglar bars on it. Still not buying his story though.

Not to mention the little-known fact that most toiletry burglars love cornering themselves inside small rooms with no easy escape routes. This just adds to the adrenaline rush… and if that small room they have found to corner themselves in has a lock? BONUS!!

In response to Ziggy’s comment (above), I’m still not buying his story either. It might be logical to worry about a break-in through a bathroom window that isn’t secured… but I can’t get past the idea that he didn’t look around for his girlfriend or call out to her… to make sure it wasn’t her in the bathroom and/or make sure she was safe and alert her to a possible burglar.

Sounds like something was going on that night between them ( supposedly a text sent to get by another man) and the cops were called there previously that same night for domestic issues. He was probably on a steroid rage. That’s my guess but I’m totally speculating.

I think he really thought it was a thief because he already conditioned his mind that anytime there could be an intruder in his house and he always want to use his gun. I feel like hes been looking for an action for long time, hes some kind of paranoid to capture a thief and a reason to fire. same as his tweet months ago, seems like he was disappointed it was only a washer. he is paranoid, aggressive, impulsive. i honestly cried for Reeva, very very sad, this is so tragic.

He said in his statement in court that he woke up went to close a sliding door and to get a fan. He went onto the balcony and heard someone in the toilet. He got scared went to the bed and got his gun out from under it, called into the bathroom to get out of his house, then fired the shots (without his legs on) He then realised his girlfriend wasn’t in bed so he went to the balcony to call for help and then put on his legs. He realised the door was locked and broke it with a cricket bat, then carried her into the bathroom, called paramedics then carried her downstairs and she died in his arms

I find it difficult to believe that a man so paranoid that the sound of his washingmachine (presumably in the middle of the day when his house keeper had been there) causes him to go on an armed hunt for an intruder sleeps with his sliding door open.

Many houses in SA have sliding burglar bars on their doors but houses in gated communities often do not. Anyone notice if his house did?

where did he sit when he put his legs on?on the bed?can we say at this point his eyes had adjusted to the darkness?and not ot notice there was no outline to show anyone was in bed.i call bullshit on his excuses .the first thing i would have done if i hear bumps in the night is to turn on the lights.i have watched enough horror movies lol to know its not a good idea running around in the dark with things chasing you.lol

Forgive me for saying this, but Duh. His only viable defense is the intruder story. Not because it’s actually true, but because his lawyer is likely no fool and gets that in South Africa, it’s the most believable. Let’s face it – lots of wealthy South Africans are armed to the teeth and paranoid about home invasions. He’s betting that the public will believe it.

I just don’t get it. Even IF he really believed that there was a burglar in his home – the person was in the bathroom. He could have called the police and stood at the door until they arrived. Assuming it was an intruder, what could they steal of value in the bathroom? Makes so little sense…

Someone told me he gave an interview a few months back in which he said he was terrified of burglars and kept a shot gun at home to protect himself. Has anyone heard of this interview. If so, maybe it was an accidental ahooting. In any case, accidental or not, it is murder and I am very sorry for this poor young woman.

Apparently the bathroom, toilet really, was 1.4m x 1.4m, a really tiny space. She had no chance.
How can you accidentally kill someone with 3 shots out of 4 total shots, when you don’t even announce that you’re armed and you’re pointing at a door.
Accident?
He knew, when he grabbed that gun, that there was only one outcome: he’d use or it not use it. And he made the choice to use it.

I am not trying to defend him and I think it is definitely murder when a burglar is shot down, not once but three times. One time might be for self defense, three times seems to be murder to me. What I am trying to say is that not knowing what you are doing caused by an intense fear might have led to this and that this might have not be premeditated.

I know fear and panic can lead to all sorts of outcomes, but the thing is that the affidavit doesn’t line up.
He sees well enough in some parts of his story to get around (find the gun, move toward it, and shift discreetly around the areas), but can’t see well enough to notice that his girlfriend’s not in bed and despite the darkness – he aimed perfectly toward the door – in the pitch darkness.

@sonja I am in no way defending him, but have you ever had a break in while you were home? I had an attempted. I was able to get out the back, but had they come through my window and I was armed, I can’t say that fear and adrenaline wouldn’t have unloaded a whole clip into them. I shook for about 6 hours (and 4 whiskeys) after the adrenaline wore off.

He kept a gun, a rifle, a bat and something else in his room to protect himself. However, how is it protecting himself when he’s shooting through a locked door? It’s more likely the person behind the locked door is trying to protect themselves.

That’s going to be the prosecution’s huge question: Why did Reeva need to lock the door in the early hours of the morning? They’re a couple, familiar with each other to be polite enough and feel safe enough to go to the toilet without locking the door.
But the first paragraph of his statement omits information.
The opening paragraph of his statement is all about him as it concludes: “We were deeply in love and I could not be happier,” not ‘we could not be happier’ but ‘I’.
Still he doesn’t divulge anything more, then jumps to his feelings about impending violence (all about him again).

A genuine home invader would have woken him up with a gun to the head, not hide in a bathroom.
Anyway, in his statement he said that he called out or ‘screamed out’. Well if that’s the case, she would have said something, confirm that she wasn’t an intruder.
There are plenty things wrong, including his use of language to distance himself from the fact that he killed her.

The man is an Olympic athlete, and to think he believes that he is so helpless and vulnerable (even without his prosthetics) that he needed to use such deadly force on some unseen troupe of invaders that had locked themselves in a toilet closet… I have a separate room for my toilet, it can barely hold one person, let alone a band of robbers.

He says he kept yelling to Reeva, and she obviously would have answered him if his story is to be believed that she was in the toilet. So why did he feel he had to fire? The holes in his story are big enough to drive a Mac truck through! Not to mention he says he wasted time calling a friend to tell them to call an ambulance? And then he makes more calls to who knows who and this and that and this and that…

It is an embarrassment to himself and the memory of his girlfriend for him to babble out this story. He should be a man, admit to his guilt, save the system the expense and time and spend the rest of his life a penitent man who may yet do some good. Even from prison he could become an advocate against domestic abuse, use himself as an example of what untreated rage issues can do to a person…

No, instead he will go down as a convicted murderer, liar and abuser. But he will never admit his guilt and therefore never perform any restitution for his actions.

Too true.
According to his affidavit, he was awake enough or wide awake, so his eyes would have adjusted in the dark well enough for him to see that his girlfriend wasn’t in bed.
What a damning affadavit.
Also, he isn’t scared of opening the balcony at night – for someone who is vigilant and terrified of potential violence, as he made sure to emphasise early on. But it’s also uncanny how it’s pitch black and yet he sees the bathroom window in the dark, but he can’t see his girlfriend anywhere in bed yet presumes she is in bed. How far is the damned toilet? Not far. But he can see well enough to manoeuvre himself to grab his gun in the dark. I can’t wait until the prosecution dismantle him. He enrages me.
It’s nauseating to think that the victim is often the forgotten individual in cases like these and always female.

Are you telling me that the whole time he was shooting that she didn’t scream, I would say after the first hit she was screaming bloody murder, what did he think his intruder was a woman who sounded like his girlfriend. He’s guilty and I bet he uses his disability for every excuse there is, so sad for this woman and her family.

do they not have bathtubs in South Africa? I guess my first instinct would have been to hide there to shield from the bullets but then again I was not the one in that horrific situation. My heart really aches for Reeva. his story is total B.S. and you don’t need to be a judge to see right through it. I guess the biggest thing will be to validate that it was in fact premeditated.

There appears to be a rush to judgment and a HUGE assumption of facts by the prosecutors, who went on the warpath way too fast.

That said, I don’t buy his excuse for one single second.

She was hiding from you in the bathroom. You shot through the door. A closed door. You did not yell out “who is it” from a distance. You did not try to block the door and call the police, or your own security people in your gated complex. Your actions do not support what you are saying.

That said, I don’t see the whole “premeditation” thing as being an obvious conclusion – not at all.

BUT, I have no doubt that this looks very, very much like a murder.

The only chance he could POSSIBLY have to try to explain his actions would be some sort of temporary insanity or psychological “break”.

Other than that, I can think of no legitimate way to explain the facts in your favor, provided those facts are indeed accurate as reported.

Also I feel prosecution wants to take into consideration the time he must have taken to decide to get the gun, make sure it was loaded and threaten her through the door. He did not have to shoot her, even if he was angry enough to want to kill her.

I have since heard that premeditation doesn’t have to be months, weeks, days or even hours in advance of the crime. That there was intent to kill her and that he took the steps to kill her and subsequently killed her is their idea of premeditation.

Everyone go read this before commenting. Seriously. It’s the play by play of the hearing this morning.

He states that he did call out to the “intruder”, that he yelled for Reeva to phone emergency services and then he shot. He also states that he went to the balcony to call for help, then phoned emergency services himself.

It’s very interesting… it seems most of the info being floated as “fact” is just rumor, otherwise things such as an arguement, a bloody cricket bat, etc. would have been presented by the prosecution.

He killed her, no doubt, but I’m not going to make any othe judgements until ALLLL the evidence comes out.

Gigi: I’m not sticking up for Oscar but I don’t think the prosecution has to lay ALL their evidence out at this point. They just have to give enough info as to get their charge to stick, which they did. I’m sure they have waay more evidence but maybe they want to hear his side before deciding how to nail him.

I think I read in The Guardian that the prosecution only had to present enough of their case at this early stage to get the judge to keep it a no bail offence. All the prosecution evidence will be presented at trial (or leaked). Only then, I think, will we find out the evidence that made the cops go straight to arrest for murder and the prosecution go for premeditated murder. They better have their shit together on this.

“The broken door is important… She was there, she locked the door for a purpose, I’m not allowed to give you that purpose now”

The judge also ruled that it would be a schedule 6 offense, meaning that the judge thinks there was enough presented to argue premeditated murder, and that his chances of getting bail are very, very low.

This is what I hate about guys who want the public to think they are examples of heroic men. He killed her in a fit of rage and now he won’t own what he did. A beautiful girl is dead and now he is looking for any excuse and any means where by he can go on with his life.

Yes, being a man means he has to spend 20 years in prison as someone’s butt fudge but that is the price society must demand….after getting a fair trial of course.

some comments here are dump!! people always talking and talking without knowing. read different sites too people….
and no…im not saying hes innocent..he killed Reeva, he admited.
i read that he had death threats before thats why he freaked out. maybe Reeva screamed but he on his confusion didn´t heard her or he heard her but he didnt realized that she was actually in the bathroom
if his story its true thats why
theres´ holes on his statement, his mind must be in trouble, his not thinking clearly.

please don´t take this if i am on his side. this is a tragic history. oscar as an athlete still is a hero for many kids.

OMG! This man thinks we’re idiots!His story makes no sense at all.There is no doubt in my mind that they were arguing over God knows what,but having a fight.It got heated,she said something to set him off or he flew into a jealous rage.I imagine that being a legless man that is dating a beautiful model probably plays on your insecurities.He shot her in the hip,she ran to the bathroom and locked it and while she was holding the door closed to keep him out he shot her 3 more times because she wouldn’t open it.Maybe he also hit her with the cricket bat before she ran to the bathroom.But he shot to kill and then panicked and called his friend BEFORE an ambulance,mind you.And they concocted the burglar story to tell the papers before they called the police.Which is why so many media outlets were reporting the burglar theory while police were arresting him for murder.He was getting his story and defense together before calling for help.The worst part is,a man who always wanted to be treated equally is now using his disability for sympathy to cover up his crime instead of taking responsibility.How can anyone still defend this man is beyond me.

Yes, knowing and understanding the motive is absolutely necessary. In this case it means the difference between premeditated murder, manslaughter due to rage, or reckless homicide. The difference in motive means a difference of 25 years in prison.

Every prosecutor “feels” the need to “convince” a jury of two things to convict a person of an intended crime: Motive and Opportunity. The law may not specify these things but a jury will never convict of premeditated murder without there being a motive, even if its insanity.

Conviction of a lessor crime such as negligent homocide does not require a motive and will be reflected in the sentencing.

You make a very good distinction within my first comment’s generalizations.

I think the locked door is the final nail is his ridiculous theory. Who gets up to pee at 3 in the morning and locks the door? No. You stumble to the bathroom and go. She locked the door because she was hiding from him. His theory makes no sense for lots of reasons including this one.

I read that the door was broken and always locked so he would have known that it was locked because if you shut the door it locks. But, I can’t remember which site and who knows if it is true or not. It is hard to know what to believe in this case since it seems both sides are throwing out lies and half truths.

You guys are right- it could be an automatic response, esp. at her boyfriend’s house. I hadn’t thought of that. The fact that he knew it was locked, you’re right, that is more damning. None of this adds up at all in his story. There are too many things that don’t make sense.

Maybe she locked the toilet door because the bathroom window was open. He heard a noise in there after closing the patio doors,panicked, got the gun and shot. He may still have been half asleep and not thinking clearly. Wait for all of the facts before crucifying this guy. Innocent until proven guilty people!!

Well hell, if we’re going to play guess the motive (assuming there is one), I want to play too. He was an abusive asshole, they were fighting, she took his prosthetics to slow him down so she could escape the abuse. He corners her forcing her to retreat to the bathroom with his prosthetics. He loses it completely and snaps shooting her through the door thus explaining why the initial shots were from an angle indicating he didn’t have his legs on. Once she was dead and the door bashed in he immediately put on the prosthetics and then made the calls.

Once he or his attorney start thinking story one won’t fly this will be his account of events. He will claim he lied because he couldn’t face the humiliation of her abusing him and keeping his prosthetics from him. That should knock off the premeditation.

oh hell. this is a good theory. she panicked. grabbed his legs to save herself and he snapped at the fact that she would dare humiliate him and shot like crazy. then used the cricket bat to break open the door and get his legs back.

Only minor hole in that theory though is as an accomplished runner Oscar would still be reasonably fast without his prosthetics on. He has knee joints and I’ve seen young kids with the same disability and none of his ability get around as quick as you like.

If they were fighting and he didnt have his legs on and she felt as though she had to run for her life… she would have run out the bedroom door and down the stairs onto the street. The only way someone would run for cover into a 1.4M x 1.4M room was if they thought they couldnt outrun him.

Also, if I went to the bathroom and I heard my husband yelling about an intruder and for me to call 911 I probably wouldn’t say anything fast enough before I would have been shot. I simply wouldn’t think that he didnt realise I was in the bathroom, especially if he called me by name.

Of course my first point could be disputed by the fact that he could have had his legs on and then he definitely could have out run her. But thats the point here… his story has some credit as far as we know at this moment in time. I am waiting for more facts.

Ok that is a good point. You are the first person, in my opionion, who has presented a valid theory as to how it is possible his story might be true. If she had run to the bathroom to hide from intruders, she would lock the door. If she heard him calling out to the intruders, she wouldn’t answer, because she wouldn’t want the intruders to know she was hiding there. He wouldn’t know she was in there, and she wouldn’t call out since she was hiding. So, I guess it’s not impossible. But I still just can’t buy it. He hears someone either going into the bathroom, or hears someone once they are already in the bathroom. I still think I would check the location of my loved one before blasting away.

Here’s what I don’t get. After looking at the layout of the toilet on TMZ, I don’t understand why she’d be on the toilet. At first I thought there was no sink there, but after seeing the layout I notice there was one. If you were hiding from an intruder, you crouch to the lowest, most out of way place you can find. There’s a spot next to the toilet, blocked by the sink. Most people would hide there, I’d think. So if she were hiding from an intruder, why wouldn’t she lock the door and hide there? I also wonder where the ladder was since there was a window in the toilet along with the main bathroom area.

Sorry guys! I didnt mean to make it sound like she was hiding from an intruder. I am was speculating that maybe she wasnt even hiding at all and if she was she was hiding from him. Chances are… if he is innocent… she just got up to go pee, heard him yelling about intruders and was shot to death seconds later. Given the fact that one of you said she didnt hide between the toilet and sink tells me that what I think is probably correct.

Im not saying he is innocent though. I have no idea and no emotion vested in either direction. Im just saying his story is believable thus far. I am itching to see what the prosecution has up their sleeves though… they swooped in so fast with a murder charge.

Weren’t there reports that she was sitting on the sink when she was shot? Who gets up in the middle of the night,locks the door, and just chills out on the sink? Sitting on the sink isn’t something a person does unless they think they might be stuck for a while. Like during an argument in which you feel threatened.

I read his full court statement on CNN. I can tell you that his lawyers are excellent. He said he woke up and noticed that the contractors left their ladders against the walls leading up to the balcony so he was fearful and went for the gun immediately. That explains going for the gun.

He said he used the cricket bat to break down the door. I am sure that he will say that he tossed the bat onto the bathroom floor as he raced to her side. That will explain her blood on the bat.

He said he yelled outside his balcony for HELP when he realized it was her. That will explain the neighbors hearing someone screaming for help.

He said he called on the phone for an ambulance. ( and this is my favorite part of the whole thing…… Drum roll please). BUT WAS TOLD TO DRIVE HER TO THE HOSPITAL HIMSELF!!! Now that has to be the biggest bald faced chokeonyourtonguetillyoudie lie ever. But it will explain why he was moving her body and it will explain why there was no ambulance dispatched to his residence from a call from him.

Man oh man. They are pulling out all the stops to make sure their golden boy does not spend one day in prison for killing his girlfriend on purpose.

And the kicker……his daddy wants to get moving on this so his son can get back on the track. Doesn’t matter that golden boy slaughtered someone else’s daughter during a temper tantrum. I am sure his daddy looks at it as his special boy is needed in order to inspire handicapped people around the world.

Maybe after he kills the 2nd or 3rd or 4th girlfriend his adoring public will begin to suspect something might not be right in his head.

You have summed it up well. But, wouldn’t the 911 operator have a recording of the call? So we would know if they told him to drive her to the hospital himself. Unless, you are suggesting they are being paid off? I would also think the way the blood and possible other bodily material is smeared on the bat might indicate if it was from a direct hit or from tossing it on the floor.

I don’t think he can expect his running career to continue, if it is true he had a bunch of drugs and steroids in his apartment. Of course maybe all these drugs have legitimate medical purposes. I don’t know. They might be able to get him off of murder but I don’t think WADA will be so easily dismissed if he has performance enhancing drugs in his system or in his home.

Well being Nigerian, there was a fire, and we called for assistant, and those bastards said and I quote: “Maam we do not have any petrol for the trucks and no water.” LOL…so it is plausible to believe that they could have told him to drive her to the hospital.
Although, the story sounds far-fetched…

interesting statements. and i cannot agree more with what you are thinking. my take on it is that it started with the sms she received in the early hours. she gets up to go pee, he looks at her phone and reads the message. the crap hits the fan from there – there are many contradicting stories surrounding this. and yes, he will get off with her murder. he’s paying for exactly that. as far as im concerned, he’s a killer. innocent or guilty, he took the life of another woman’s daughter. and sorry, i had to laugh at the comments on separate toilets in SA. we don’t like to crap where we bath, guys. when it’s en suite, you will find either a loo with a basin, or separate loo from the shower and dressing area. in the normal middle average homes, you would get guest loo’s on the top level which is separated from the bathing area. in lower income homes you would either get a separate loo or a combined one due to the size. greetings from a sunny Port Elizabeth, south africa xx

It hink the separate toilet thing is catching on in the US. In many homes I visit that are new and upper middle class on up they are all that way. This way you both can be in the bathroom at the same time but still have your privacy.

Msjackson — just thought of something. Being a magistrate is a political job. Maybe the magistrate will have a lot of pressure to not let a beloved national symbol of disabilities triumphing over adversity become a shamed killer who rots in prison for the rest of his life.

It could actually be a bad thing that a magistrate will decide the case. If the president of SA calls and says not to find poor leafless Oscar guilty………what is a lowly magistrate going to do.

I know I would lock the bathroom door after only being with a guy for 2 months, I still locked the door after 3 years of being with someone! Just because I’d be mortified if they walked in on me on the loo.

Another thing, I know if I was trying to get away from someone, I would run down the stairs, away from them especially seeing as he might not have had his prosthetics on. I’ll try to reserve judgement until the court case.

I was in an abusive situation and I can say your instinct is to run away from the perpetrator. If her options were A. Run by/around him to get to the stairs or B. run the opposite direction away from him to the bathroom I can see why she chose B. With A he could of tackled her etc.

If it’s any consolation to those worried that he’ll get away with murder – SA law states that you can’t shoot someone (even if they’re carrying away your tv right in front of you) unless you can prove your life was in imminent danger.

Everyone knows aliens from District 9 don’t carry guns. Such a defense would never be believed by a jury. District 9 aliens use projectile vomit to incapacitate their victims…sort of like trooling walking dead.

I’m really not sure how to read this at all, however I add something which popped into my head while reading the comments – “IF” you were a burglar in his home and he woke up while you were closeby, your only option may be to hide in the bathroom and lock the door while you try and escape. It’s not entirely implausible to use such a defence and I’m sure his lawyer may even go down that route. I’m in no way defending him, I donte even want to pass judgment right now with so many questions still to be answered, but I just thought I’d add my bit

South Africans: is this true: a buddy of mine travelled to SA on business a while back and I can’t remember which city he was in, but did stay with locals, or visited maybe, and he said that in fact, it wasn’t so unusual to have locks on THE BEDROOM DOOR because of the crime rate, in particular violent break-ins. And bars everywhere, even in gated communities. At the least the houses he visited, people had locks everywhere and they were heavily armed. So we were wondering, is this widespread and pretty much a fact of life there?
I mean, Oscar does sound trigger-happy, but the fact that he would be shooting a possible intruder in the bedroom area (e.g., thinking someone got in through the bathroom window) isn’t so unusual, maybe? Like, he was in a normal state of paranoia because that’s how it is there?
Anyway, his story still doesn’t quite add up.
Off to read the statement…

Speaking as an average middle class citizen: yes, it’s true about the security measures (locks, bars, alarms, motion sensors, guarded & gated communities, etc) but as for being heavily armed – not so much. In all my life, I’ve only ever known 2 people who owned guns.

What the hell are you people talking about?Of all that has come out of this case how can you all spend so much emphasis on whether people lock their bathroom door or not?!WTF!What does that possibly have to do with the fact that they had been fighting earlier and she was shot through the door.I am just reading these comments and my mouth is open.No wonder O.J Simpson got away with murder.A good lawyer can easily get 12 people to abandon common sense and distract them with crap that has nothing to do with a beloved athlete gunning down his unarmed girlfriend in cold blood.And BTW,he wasn’t crying when he was arrested,he just looked tired and scared.He didn’t shed any tears until he heard he was being charged with first degree murder.

Seriously he knows his girlfriend is in the house but still fires 4 times without even asking questions or checking where she is? If you are that trigger happy maybe you shouldn´t have a gun? No matter what happened he is going to have to live with this for the rest of his life.

well, if i hear someone in the house while i believe that my gf is sleeping next to me, i would certainly wake her up to call the police before starting to shoot. Not to mention that if it was pitch black how did he find that pistol and the footwear so easily….

Yeah, read the statement from the link somebody posted above and …. I don’t know. It still sounds wierd to me that he wouldn’t have noticed Reeva’s presence and if he yelled, that he still wouldn’t have heard her say something. I mean, if he DIDN’T mean to kill her, he still the dumbest person alive. Maybe he really is mortified by such a horrible mistake.

If I’m on the toilet and someone shoots through the door, I scream at the very first shot. Did he kill her with the first shot? Doubtfull.

Three days ago I heard a South African attorney talk about shooting an intruder on your property. He said you must call the police if possible and give a warning before firing. Oscar’s claims seem right out of the lawyer’s playbook.

In the emergency call did Oscar say “my girlfriend has been shot” or “I shot my girlfriend”. The former would indicate he was already in the self preservation mode.

My guess is that forensics are going to have a lot of play in this case. If he didn’t have his legs on, then the bullet trajectory would be going up. If he didn’t bludgeon her in the head then there won’t be hair and skin tissue in the bat.

If he shot her 3 or 4 times through a closed door from his bed (while sitting down on his bed as I imagine since he didn’t have his legs on) then he’s a hell of a shoot who’s a fool. A fool that didn’t think his gf might have gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

We don’t know enough from this incident to draw our own conclusions. But what we do know is pretty damming.

I still don’t understand how he carried the gun and shot without his prosthetic legs?How did he get up to get a fan and carry it without his prosthetic legs? Don’t they need both their hands to walk around when they’re not wearing their legs?

True story, I once went out on 2 dates with a blind guy. I thought to myself that because of his disability he would be different. Boy, was I wrong! He was one of the biggest jerks, if not the biggest, I ever went out with. I know the defense wants to use the good old-fashioned Halo Effect here, but just because he has a disability doesn’t mean he can’t be a murderer. They can’t possibly think the judge and magistrates are that easily manipulated.

Listen, I’ve read several voices come out on those who knew Oscar and also the facts speak very loudly, that he killed her no doubt about it…Oscar was known to be arrogant, wild, threatening to others, and all the evidence will hopefully come out to convict this man. He was indeed a time bomb just waiting to go off. It was well known that he had a bad temper, and he was pushy and extremely arrogant. They had a fight and he blew up. She barricaded herself in the bathroom for safety and he couldn’t control himself. This man deserves to be put away after taking her life, what more can I say?

My take is that he loves guns and shooting. They had an argument, he went ape and started the shooting. When he was done he has realized what he did and realized the outcome of his act. Hence the call to his friend.

Since that moment he knew he is in trouble, but as a child does try to convince you they didnt do it, he would love to make himself believe he didnt do it or make it look he had a reason – intruder- to shoot. Finding excuses to shoot someone in cold blood.. I dont know what to say to that.

He is guilty and he knows it. He just doesnt want to face the world and say it. Probably out of shame, but probably because he is childish and cant accept the punishment and responsibility.

Im glad I dont follow any sports anymore. I would be dissapointed even more. Never heard of Oscar Pitorious before this case, shame I had to learn about him this way.

My thoughts as well. He shot to kill and take his chance. After the first shot and she ran to the bathroom, his life flashed before his eye if she werw to report the case so why not finish the job and with good lawyer go free. If he tried to save as he said he would call paramedics first not his dad for brain storm or closest friend. They had a fight, the neighbours heard, one shot fired then after 10mins the 2nd 3rd n 4th. It was premeditated. He has anger issues and insecurity. Someone reported he shot at a restaurant a week before n almost shot his foot. South africa doesnt have a jury system which is not surprising cause thats how most african icial system is run. Now if the judge is currupt Oscar will walk free.

My thoughts as well. He shot to kill and take his chance. After the first shot and she ran to the bathroom, his life flashed before his eye if she werw to report the case so why not finish the job and with good lawyer go free. If he tried to save as he said he would call paramedics first not his dad for brain storm or closest friend. They had a fight, the neighbours heard, one shot fired then after 10mins the 2nd 3rd n 4th. It was premeditated. He has anger issues and insecurity. Someone reported he shot at a restaurant a week before n almost shot his foot. South africa doesnt have a jury system which is not surprising cause thats how most african icial system is run. Now if the judge is currupt Oscar will walk free.

I am praying for Oscar Pistorius, his family, steenkamp’s family and everyone who is affected by this horrible, awful, life-changing event. I feel so sad that it had happened.. their lives will be shattered for ever. I will keep praying and praying.

So many people are so quick to judge and condemn without even knowing the whole truth which will eventually come to light.So who are we to judge? I am not making light of what happened and it is tragic that someone was murdered here. Something fatally has gone so wrong but who are we to judge?

I am sure these are the same people who saw him as their hero before this whole sorry incident happened. I think the whole episode just reflects badly how flawed we all are as individuals and how flawed we are as a society. Let God be the only Judge of this whole, sad, sorry awful event.

She wanted to leave him, to break up. He did not want to let her go. Now she’s dead and he says it was a accident because it’s not his fault, it’s hers. His story would strain a child’s imagination. Classic abuse situation. Control issues, insecurity, domination and rage all wrapped up in one crazy package with drugs mixed in.

Interesting some people stating he just woke up & was sleepy/dazed etc… hold on a second, just read his tweets, he suffers from insomnia, so no way he was dazed/confused. He was more than likely wide awake.

Sad loss. Reeva a beautiful life. I hope justice prevails. (even though the liar OP may plea bargain etc)